Transcript Darwin`s solution

Darwin’s solution
Darwin in the Garden
• Darwin returns to England in 1836 and
starts to work on his collections
• Many birds he thought were different were
all the same (Darwin’s Finches)
• In 1844 he starts to write down how
evolution might work
Darwin in the Garden
• In 1859 he published the Origin of Species by
Natural Selection
– Because he was going to be scooped by Alfred Russell
Wallace who came up with the same ideas after
collecting animals, fossils and plants in Malaysia
• The book presents the idea that life on earth has
changed over time along with extensive
supporting evidence
• He proposed a hypothesis to explain the change
(natural selection)
Artificial Selection
• Remember selective breeding
• Nature provides variation and humans allow
only select organisms to produce offspring
• Darwin called this artificial selection
Variations in Nature
• Darwin pointed out that inheritable
variation was common, in nature (just like
in domesticated animals and plants)
• This was revolutionary at the time
• Mendel published in 1866, but was not
“discovered” until 1900
Darwin in the garden,
• What force in nature acted like the farmer
(doing selective breeding)
• Generation after generation the struggle for
existence selects the fittest individuals to
survive in nature
• Darwin called this natural selection
(because it is similar to artificial selection)